Routing a voip call with contextual information

ABSTRACT

A method and system for routing a call connection signal and corresponding contextual information to an appropriate destination is provided. A call center and at least one user may exchange signals, and/or contextual information during a call set-up phase. Relevant contextual information and other detailed information may be identified and collected from their corresponding sources. Based on the relevant contextual information and other detailed information, one or more appropriate routed destinations may be determined. In addition, contextual information may be tailored for each of the determined routed destinations. The call connection signal and the tailored contextual information are routed to each routed destination. In this manner, necessary contextual information may be readily available for the routed destination at the time of the call connection and thus the routed destination can provide a faster service.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to applicationSer. No. 11/432,163, filed May 10, 2006, entitled ROUTING A VOIP CALLWITH CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION, indicated to be issued as U.S. Pat. No.8,050,255, on Nov. 1, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Generally described, an Internet telephony system provides anopportunity for users to have a call connection with enhanced callingfeatures compared to a conventional Public Switched Telephone Network(PSTN)-based telephony system. In a typical Internet telephony system,often referred to as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), audioinformation is processed into a sequence of data blocks, called packets,for communications utilizing an Internet Protocol (IP) data network.During a VoIP call conversation, the digitized voice is converted intosmall frames of voice data and a voice data packet is assembled byadding an IP header to the frame of voice data that is transmitted andreceived.

VoIP technology has been favored because of its flexibility andportability of communications, ability to establish and controlmultimedia communication, and the like. VoIP technology will likelycontinue to gain favor because of its ability to provide enhancedcalling features and advanced services which the traditional telephonytechnology has not been able to provide. However, the current VoIPapproach may not provide a method or a system to route a call andappropriate contextual information based on a need of a respondingparty.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This summary is not intended to identify key features ofthe claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid indetermining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

A method and system for routing a call-connection signal andcorresponding contextual information to an appropriate destination isprovided. A call center and at least one user may exchange signalsand/or contextual information during a call set-up phase. Relevantcontextual information and other detailed information may be identifiedand collected from their corresponding sources. Based on the relevantcontextual information and other detailed information, one or moreappropriate routed destinations may be determined. In addition,contextual information may be tailored for each of the determined routeddestinations. The call-connection signal and the tailored contextualinformation are routed to each routed destination. In this manner,necessary contextual information may be readily available for the routeddestination at the time of the call connection and thus the routeddestination can provide a faster service.

In an aspect of the present invention, a method for collecting andtransmitting contextual information for routing a call-initiation signalfor a communication channel and relevant contextual information receivedfrom a calling client may be provided. A final destination of thecommunication channel may be identified. An example of the finaldestination may be a particular call center. It is determined as towhether an appropriate application relating to the destination, whichcorresponds to contextual information, is locally available. If it is,the appropriate application may be selected to collect and transmit afirst set of contextual information. Upon collecting the first set ofcontextual information, a communication channel connection may beinitiated by sending a call-initiation signal to the identifieddestination along with the first set of contextual information inaccordance with the appropriate application. If the appropriateapplication is not available, contextual information corresponding tothe appropriate application may be obtained from a proper source such asthe identified destination. The appropriate application can also beobtained from a service provider, a centralized database server, otherVoIP clients, and the like. A response to the call-initiation signal andthe destination's contextual information may be received. The responsemay be rejecting or accepting the call-initiation signal, requestingadditional information, and/or other appropriate actions.

In an aspect of the method, the response may indicate that additionalinformation is required to establish a communication channel with thedestination. A next set of contextual information corresponding to theadditional information may be identified, collected and transmitted. Inone embodiment, a response to the next set of contextual information maybe received. When the response indicates that the call initiation isaccepted, a communication channel between the caller and the destinationmay be established. The contextual information and media informationincluding voice information (conversation) are continued to be exchangedover the established communication channel between the caller and thedestination. During such conversation, the information relating tochanges in the caller's contextual information may continue to becollected and transmitted. Likewise, in response to the caller'scontextual information, the destination may send a response and/ordestination's contextual information.

In another aspect of the present invention, a method for routing anincoming request to a routed destination and for collecting andproviding contextual information tailored for the routed destination isprovided. An incoming request to initiate a communication channel isreceived. It is determined as to whether contextual information inconjunction with the incoming request has been received. If anycontextual information has been received along with the incoming requestsignal, the contextual information is processed. A proper response inaccordance with the processed contextual information is transmitted.Further, additional contextual information may be received. If nocontextual information has been received, necessary contextualinformation to determine a routed destination may be collected and/orobtained from the calling party, a service provider, third party serviceprovider, and the like. The collected and/or obtained contextualinformation may be processed. A subset or all of the contextualinformation may be locally stored for future use. Other detailedinformation related to the calling party, for example, past services,history, and the like may be collected. Relevant contextual informationto determine the routed destination may be identified.

Based on the relevant contextual information and other detailedinformation, one or more appropriate routed destinations may bedetermined. If no contextual information is obtained or collected, adefault destination may be selected as an appropriate routeddestination. A subset of the contextual information and other detailedinformation may be tailored for each appropriate routed destination.Further, additional information which may be useful to the appropriaterouted destinations may be collected and/or obtained from a propersource and added into the tailored contextual information. Subsequently,the incoming request signal and the tailored contextual information arerouted to the routed destination.

In yet another aspect of the present invention, a computer-readablemedium having computer-executable components for routing an incomingrequest signal for establishing a communication channel and relevantcontextual information is provided. The computer-readable medium mayinclude an interface component for receiving the incoming request signalfor establishing a communication channel and contextual informationrelating to a calling client (calling party). The interface componentfurther identifies and obtains additional information. The additionalinformation may also be obtained from at least one of the requestingparty, third party service providers, service providers, or the storagecomponent. The computer-readable medium may further include a routingcomponent for determining a destination for the incoming request signalbased on the contextual information. The routing component furtherforwards (routes) the incoming request signal and appropriate contextualinformation to the routed destination. In one embodiment, theappropriate contextual information may be tailored based on the need ofthe destination. The computer-readable medium may also include a storagecomponent for storing information relating to detailed information suchas history and previous communications with the calling party,information relating to the routed destination, the calling party'scontextual information, and other additional information. The interfacecomponent further obtains information relating to changes in previouslyreceived contextual information. The routing component dynamicallyselects another destination based on the information relating tochanges, reroutes the incoming request signal to the selecteddestination, and provides appropriate information to the selecteddestination. Voice information and contextual information are exchangedbetween the selected destination and the calling party. In this manner,the exchanged contextual information may be dynamically evaluated andused for a base to alter a destination of the communication channelduring a conversation.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of thisinvention will become more readily appreciated as the same become betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description, whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrative of a VoIP environment forestablishing a conversation channel between various clients inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrative of a VoIP client in accordancewith an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrative of various components associatedwith a VoIP device in accordance with an aspect of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrative of the exchange of data betweentwo VoIP clients over a conversation channel in accordance with anaspect of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a data packet used over a communicationchannel established in the VoIP environment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating interactions between two VoIPclients for transferring contextual information defined by identifiedstructured hierarchies in accordance with an aspect of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are block diagrams illustrating interactions betweenVoIP entities for collecting and routing contextual information to adestination in accordance with an aspect of the present invention;

FIGS. 8A-8C are block diagrams illustrating exemplary user interfaces inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 9A is a block diagram illustrative of various attributes andclasses of structural hierarchies corresponding to VoIP contextualinformation in accordance with an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 9B is a block diagram of a call basic class which is an exemplarysubset of the structural hierarchies illustrated in FIG. 9A;

FIG. 9C is a block diagram of a call context class which is an exemplarysubset of the structural hierarchies illustrated in FIG. 9A;

FIG. 9D is a block diagram of a services subclass which is an exemplarysubset of the structural hierarchies illustrated in FIG. 9C;

FIG. 9E is a block diagram of a device type class which is an exemplarysubset of the structural hierarchies illustrated in FIG. 9A;

FIG. 9F is a block diagram of a VoIP clients class which is an exemplarysubset of the structural hierarchies illustrated in FIG. 9A;

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating a routine for collecting initialcontextual information in accordance with an aspect of the presentinvention;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating a contextual informationsubroutine suitable for use in the routine illustrated in FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating a routine for an ongoingcollection of contextual information over an existing communicationchannel;

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating a routine for exchangingcontextual information to route an incoming signal in accordance with anaspect of the present invention; and

FIG. 14 is a flow diagram illustrating a routine for establishing achannel connection with a destination in accordance with an aspect ofthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally described, the present invention relates to a method andsystem for collecting and routing information relating to a servicerequested by a VoIP client or other service providers to a routeddestination over a communication channel. More specifically, the presentinvention relates to a method and system for identifying contextualinformation, in response to a call-initiation signal for a service,collecting the identified contextual information represented accordingto “structured hierarchies,” and routing the call signal and thecollected contextual information to an appropriate destination.“Structured hierarchies,” as used herein, are predefined organizationalstructures for arranging contextual information to be exchanged betweentwo or more VoIP devices. For example, structured hierarchies may be XMLnamespaces. Further, a VoIP conversation includes one or more datastreams of information related to a conversation, such as contextualinformation and voice/multimedia information, exchanged over aconversation channel. Suitable user interfaces adaptive to contextualinformation may be utilized to collect further contextual information.Although the present invention will be described with relation toillustrative structured hierarchies and an IP telephony environment, oneskilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the disclosedembodiments are illustrative in nature and should not be construed aslimiting.

With reference to FIG. 1, a block diagram of an IP telephony environment100 for providing IP telephone services between various “VoIP clients”is shown. A “VoIP client,” as used herein, refers to a particularcontact point, such as an individual, an organization, a company, etc.,one or more associated VoIP devices and a unique VoIP client identifier.For example, a single individual, five associated VoIP devices and aunique VoIP client identifier may collectively makeup a VoIP client.Similarly, a company including five hundred individuals and over onethousand associated VoIP devices may also be collectively referred to asa VoIP client and that VoIP client may be identified by a unique VoIPclient identifier. Moreover, VoIP devices may be associated withmultiple VoIP clients. For example, a computer (a VoIP device) locatedin a residence in which three different individuals live where eachindividual is associated with separate VoIP clients, may be associatedwith each of the three VoIP clients. Regardless of the combination ofdevices, the unique VoIP client identifier may be used within a voicesystem to reach the contact point of the VoIP client.

Generally described, the IP telephony environment 100 may include an IPdata network 108 such as the Internet, an intranet network, a wide areanetwork (WAN), a local area network (LAN), and the like. The IPtelephony environment 100 may further include VoIP service providers126, 132 providing VoIP services to VoIP clients 124, 125, 134. A VoIPcall conversation may be exchanged as a stream of data packetscorresponding to voice information, media information, and/or contextualinformation. As will be discussed in greater detail below, thecontextual information includes metadata (information of information)relating to the VoIP conversation, the devices being used in theconversation, the contact point of the connected VoIP clients, and/orindividuals that are identified by the contact point (e.g., employees ofa company).

The IP telephony environment 100 may also include third party VoIPservice providers 140. The VoIP service providers 126, 132, 140 mayprovide various calling features, such as incoming call-filtering, textdata, voice and media data integration, and the integrated datatransmission as part of a VoIP call conversation. VoIP clients 104, 124,125, 136 may create, maintain, and provide information relating topredetermined priorities for incoming calls. In addition, the VoIPservice providers 126, 132, 140 may also generate, maintain, and providea separated set of metadata information (e.g., provider priority list)for individuals communicating in a call conversation. The VoIP serviceproviders 126, 132, 140 may determined and assign an appropriatepriority level to data packets based on priority information provided byVoIP clients 104, 124, 125, 136 in conjunction with the providerpriority list.

VoIP service providers 132 may be coupled to a private network such as acompany LAN 136, providing IP telephone services (e.g., internal callswithin the private network, external calls outside of the privatenetwork, and the like) and multimedia data services to several VoIPclients 134 communicatively connected to the company LAN 136. Similarly,VoIP service providers, such as VoIP service provider 126, may becoupled to Internet Service Provider (ISP) 122, providing IP telephoneservices and VoIP services for clients of the ISP 122.

In one embodiment, one or more ISPs 106, 122 may be configured toprovide Internet access to VoIP clients 104, 124, 125 so that the VoIPclients 104, 124, 125 can maintain conversation channels establishedover the Internet. The VoIP clients 104, 124, 125 connected to the ISP106, 122 may use wired and/or wireless communication lines. Further,each VoIP client 104, 124, 125, 134 can communicate with Plain OldTelephone Service (POTS) 115 via PSTN 112, or Private Branch exchange(PBX) 113. A PSTN interface 114 such as a PSTN gateway may provideaccess between POTS/PSTN and the IP data network 108. The PSTN interface114 may translate VoIP data packets into circuit switched voice trafficfor PSTN and vice versa. The PSTN 112 may include a land line device116, a mobile device 117, and the like.

Conventional voice devices, such as land line 116 may request aconnection with the VoIP client based on the unique client identifier ofthat client and the appropriate VoIP device associated with the VoIPclient, will be used to establish a connection. In one example, anindividual associated with the VoIP client may specify which devices areto be used in connecting a call based on a variety of conditions (e.g.,connection based on the calling party, the time of day, etc.).

It is understood that the above-mentioned configuration in theenvironment 100 is merely exemplary. It will be appreciated by one ofordinary skill in the art that any suitable configurations with variousVoIP entities can be part of the environment 100. For example, VoIPclients 134 coupled to LAN 136 may be able to communicate with otherVoIP clients 104, 124, 125, 134 with or without VoIP service providers132 or ISP 106, 122. Further, an ISP 106, 122 can also provide VoIPservices to its client.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram illustrating an exemplary VoIPclient 200 that includes several VoIP devices and a unique VoIPidentifier, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention,is shown. Each VoIP device 202, 204, 206 may include a storage that isused to maintain voice messages, address books, client specified rules,priority information related to incoming calls, etc. Alternatively, orin addition thereto, a separate storage, maintained for example by aservice provider, may be associated with the VoIP client and accessibleby each VoIP device that contains information relating to the VoIPclient. In an embodiment, any suitable VoIP device such as a wirelessphone 202, an IP phone 204, or a computer 206 with proper VoIPapplications may be part of the VoIP client 200. The VoIP client 200also maintains one or more unique client identifiers 208. The uniqueclient identifier(s) 208 may be constant or change over time. Forexample, the unique client identifier(s) 208 may change with each call.The unique client identifier is used to identify the client and toconnect with the contact point 210 associated with the VoIP client. Theunique client identifier may be maintained on each VoIP device includedin the VoIP client and/or maintained by a service provider that includesan association with each VoIP device included in the VoIP client. In theinstance in which the unique client identifier is maintained by aservice provider, the service provider may include information abouteach associated VoIP device and knowledge as to which device(s) toconnect for incoming communications. In an alternative embodiment, theVoIP client 200 may maintain multiple VoIP identifiers. In thisembodiment, a unique client identifier may be temporarily assigned tothe VoIP client 200 for each call session.

The unique client identifier may be used similar to a telephone numberin PSTN. However, instead of dialing a typical telephone number to ringa specific PSTN device, such as a home phone, the unique clientidentifier is used to reach a contact point, such as an individual orcompany, which is associated with the VoIP client. Based on thearrangement of the client, the appropriate device(s) will be connectedto reach the contact point. In one embodiment, each VoIP device includedin the VoIP client may also have its own physical address in the networkor a unique device number. For example, if an individual makes a phonecall to a POTS client using a personal computer (VoIP device), the VoIPclient identification number in conjunction with an IP address of thepersonal computer will eventually be converted into a telephone numberrecognizable in PSTN.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a VoIP device 300 that may be associatedwith one or more VoIP clients and used with embodiments of the presentinvention. It is to be noted that the VoIP device 300 is described as anexample. It will be appreciated that any suitable device with variousother components can be used with embodiments of the present invention.For utilizing VoIP services, the VoIP device 300 may include componentssuitable for receiving, transmitting and processing various types ofdata packets. For example, the VoIP device 300 may include a multimediainput/output component 302 and a network interface component 304. Themultimedia input/output component 302 may be configured to input and/oroutput multimedia data (including audio, video, and the like), userbiometrics, text, application file data, etc.

The multimedia input/output component 302 may include any suitable userinput/output components such as a microphone, a video camera, a displayscreen, a keyboard, user biometric recognition devices, and the like.The multimedia input/output component 302 may also receive and transmitmultimedia data via the network interface component 304. The networkinterface component 304 may support interfaces such as Ethernetinterfaces, frame relay interfaces, cable interfaces, DSL interfaces,token ring interfaces, radio frequency (air interfaces), and the like.The VoIP device 300 may comprise a hardware component 306 includingpermanent and/or removable storage such as read-only memory devices(ROM), random access memory (RAM), hard drives, optical drives, and thelike. The storage may be configured to store program instructions forcontrolling the operation of an operating system and/or one or moreapplications, and to store contextual information related to individuals(e.g., voice profiles, user biometrics information, etc.) associatedwith the VoIP client in which the device is included. In one embodiment,the hardware component 306 may include a VoIP interface card whichallows a non-VoIP client device to transmit and receive a VoIPconversation.

The device 300 may further include a software application component 310for the operation of the device 300 and a VoIP Service applicationcomponent 308 for supporting various VoIP services. The VoIP serviceapplication component 308 may include applications such as data packetassembler/disassembler applications, a structured hierarchy parsingapplication, audio Coder/Decoder (CODEC), video CODEC and other suitableapplications for providing VoIP services. The CODEC may use voiceprofiles to filter and improve incoming audio.

With reference to FIG. 4, a block diagram illustrative of a conversationflow 400 between VoIP devices of two different VoIP clients over aconversation channel, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention, is shown. During a connection set-up phase, a VoIP device ofa first VoIP client 406 requests to initiate a conversation channel witha second VoIP client 408. In an illustrative embodiment, a VoIP serviceprovider 402 (Provider 1) for the first VoIP client 406 receives therequest to initiate a conversation channel and forwards the request to aVoIP service provider 404 (Provider 2) for the second VoIP client 406.While this example utilizes two VoIP service providers and two VoIPclients, any number and combination of VoIP clients and/or serviceproviders may be used with embodiments of the present invention. Forexample, only one service provider may be utilized in establishing theconnection. In yet another example, communication between VoIP devicesmay be direct, utilizing public and private lines, thereby eliminatingthe need for a VoIP service provider. In a peer to peer context,communication between VoIP devices may also be direct without having anyservice providers involved.

There are a variety of protocols that may be selected for use inexchanging information between VoIP clients, VoIP devices, and/or VoIPservice providers. For example, when Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)is selected for a signaling protocol, session control information andmessages will be exchanged over a SIP signaling path/channel and mediastreams will be exchanged over Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP)path/channel. For the purpose of discussion, a communication channel, asused herein, generally refers to any type of data or signal exchangepath/channel. Thus, it will be appreciated that depending on theprotocol, a connection set-up phase and a connection termination phasemay require additional steps in the conversation flow 400.

For ease of explanation, we will utilize the example in which, the firstVoIP client 406 and the second VoIP client 408, each includes only oneVoIP device. Accordingly, the discussion provided herein will refer toconnection of the two VoIP devices. The individual using the device ofthe first VoIP client 406 may select or enter the unique VoIP identifierof the client that is to be called. Provider 1 402 receives the requestfrom the device of the first VoIP client 408 and determines aterminating service provider (e.g., Provider 2 404 of the second VoIPclient 408) based on the unique VoIP identifier included in the request.The request is then forwarded to Provider 2 404. This call initiationwill be forwarded to the device of the second VoIP client. Aconversation channel between the device of the first VoIP client 406 anda device of the second VoIP client 408 can then be established.

In an illustrative embodiment, before the devices of the first VoIPclient 406 and the second VoIP client 408 begin to exchange datapackets, contextual information may be exchanged. As will be discussedin a greater detail below, the contextual information may be packetizedin accordance with a predefined structure that is associated with theconversation. Any device associated with the first VoIP client 406, theservice provider of the first VoIP client 406, or a differentdevice/service provider may determine the structure based on the contentof the contextual information. In one embodiment, the exchangedcontextual information may include information relating to the callingVoIP client 406, the device, and the VoIP client 408 being called.

Available media types, rules of the calling client and the client beingcalled, and the like, may also be part of the contextual informationthat is exchanged during the connection set-up phase. The contextualinformation may be processed and collected by one of the devices of thefirst VoIP client 406, one of the devices of the second VoIP client 408,and/or by the VoIP service providers (e.g., Provider 1 402 and Provider2 404), depending on the nature of the contextual information. In oneembodiment, the VoIP service providers 402, 404 may add/delete someinformation to/from the client's contextual information beforeforwarding the contextual information.

In response to a request to initiate a conversation channel, the secondVoIP client 408 may accept the request for establishing a conversationchannel or execute other appropriate actions such as rejecting therequest via Provider 2 404. The appropriate actions may be determinedbased on the obtained contextual information. When a conversationchannel is established, a device of the first VoIP client 406 and adevice of the second VoIP client 408 start communicating with each otherby exchanging data packets. As will be described in greater detailbelow, the data packets, including conversation data packets andcontextual data packets, are communicated over the establishedconversation channel between the connected devices.

Conversation data packets carry data related to a conversation, forexample, a voice data packet, or multimedia data packet. Contextual datapackets carry information relating to data other than the conversationdata. Once the conversation channel is established, either the firstVoIP client 406 or the second VoIP client 408 can request to terminatethe conversation channel. Some contextual information may be exchangedbetween the first VoIP client 406 and the second VoIP client 408 afterthe termination.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a data packet structure 500 used over acommunication (conversation) channel in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention. The data packet structure 500 may be a datapacket structure for an IP data packet suitable for being utilized tocarry conversation data (e.g., voice, multimedia data, and the like) orcontextual data (e.g., information relating to the VoIP services, andthe like). However, any other suitable data structure can be utilized tocarry conversation data or contextual data. The data packet structure500 includes a header 502 and a payload 504. The header 502 may containinformation necessary to deliver the corresponding data packet to adestination. Additionally, the header 502 may include informationutilized in the process of a conversation. Such information may includeconversation ID 506 for identifying a conversation (e.g., call), aDestination ID 508, such as a unique VoIP identifier of the client beingcalled, a Source ID 510 (unique VoIP identifier of the calling client ordevice identifier), Payload ID 512 for identifying the type of payload(e.g., conversation or contextual), individual ID (not shown) foridentifying the individual to which the conversation data is related,and the like. In an alternative embodiment, the header 502 may containinformation regarding Internet protocol versions, and payload length,among others. The payload 504 may include conversational or contextualdata relating to an identified conversation. As will be appreciated byone of ordinary skill in the art, additional headers may be used forupper layer headers such as a TCP header, a UDP header, and the like.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a structured hierarchy maybe predefined for communicating contextual information over a VoIPconversation channel. The contextual information may include anyinformation relating to VoIP clients, VoIP devices, conversation channelconnections (e.g., call basics), conversation context (e.g., callcontext), and the like. More specifically, the contextual informationmay include client preference, client rules, client's location (e.g.,user location, device location, etc.), biometrics information, theclient's confidential information, VoIP device's functionality, VoIPservice provider's information, media type, media parameters, callingnumber priority, keywords, information relating to application files,and the like. The contextual information may be processed and collectedat each VoIP client and/or the VoIP service providers depending on thenature of the contextual data. In one aspect, the VoIP service providersmay add, modify and/or delete the VoIP client's contextual data beforeforwarding the contextual information. For example, client'sconfidential information will be deleted by the VoIP service providerassociated with that client unless the client authorizes suchinformation to be transmitted. In some cases, a minimal amount ofcontextual information is transmitted outside of an intranet network.

With reference to FIG. 6, a block diagram 600 illustrating interactionsbetween two VoIP clients for transferring contextual information, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention, is shown. Aswith FIG. 4, the example described herein will utilize the scenario inwhich each client only has one device associated therewith and theconnection occurs between those two devices. In one embodiment, devicesof VoIP Client 606 and VoIP Client 608 have established a VoIPconversation channel. It may be identified which structured hierarchieswill be used to carry certain contextual information by VoIP Client 606.The information regarding the identified structured hierarchies mayinclude information about which structured hierarchies are used to carrythe contextual information, how to identify the structured hierarchy,and the like. Such information will be exchanged between VoIP Client 606and VoIP Client 608 before the corresponding contextual information isexchanged. Upon receipt of the information identifying which structuredhierarchy will be used to carry the contextual information, VoIP Client608 looks up predefined structured hierarchies (e.g., XML namespace andthe like) to select the identified structured hierarchies. In oneembodiment, the predefined structured hierarchies can be globally storedand managed in a centralized location accessible from a group of VoIPclients. In this embodiment, a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) addressof the centralized location may be transmitted from VoIP Client 606 toVoIP Client 608.

In another embodiment, each VoIP client may have a set of predefinedstructured hierarchies stored in a local storage of any devices or adedicated local storage which all devices can share. The predefinedstructured hierarchies may be declared and agreed upon between VoIPclients before contextual information is exchanged. In this manner, theneed to provide the structure of the contextual data packets may beeliminated and thus the amount of transmitted data packets correspondingto the contextual data is reduced. Further, by employing the predefinedstructured hierarchies, data packets can be transmitted in a mannerwhich is independent of hardware and/or software.

Upon retrieving the identified structured hierarchy, VoIP Client 608 isexpecting to receive a data stream such that data packets correspondingto the data stream are defined according to the identified structuredhierarchies. VoIP Client 606 can begin sending contextual informationrepresented in accordance with the identified structured hierarchies. Inone embodiment, VoIP Client 608 starts a data binding process withrespect to the contextual information. For example, instances of theidentified structured hierarchies may be constructed with the receivedcontextual information.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are block diagrams 700 illustrating the collection, androuting of contextual information among VoIP entities in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, the VoIPentities may include VoIP clients, VoIP service providers for theclients, third party service providers, and the like.

With reference to FIG. 7A, in one embodiment, VoIP Client 608 may send asignal to initiate a call request to a Service Provider (SP) 610. SP 610may be a service provider on premises (e.g., part of a client if theclient is a corporation) or a service provider off premises (an externalservice provider). As will be described in greater detail below, SP 610may be any VoIP related service provider, including a call center, acustomer support center, a VoIP service provider, an interactivee-commerce server, a centralized client information management server,and the like. Likewise, a signal may be initiated for a call to seekservices which can be provided by SP 610. For example, a user may wishto have a conversation with customer service personnel regardingproblems in a VoIP device or a VoIP call in a call center environment.

For discussion purposes, assume that VoIP Client 606 has a prearrangedagreement with SP 610 (e.g., a call center) for obtaining customer careservices for a device. Third party SP 612 may relate to a manufacturerof components of the device, suitable for providing additionalinformation relating to the device. In one embodiment, SP 610 may obtainclient's contextual information from VoIP Client 606, which may havebeen prepackaged in connection with the call-initiation signal for acommunication channel. As will be described in greater detail below, itis contemplated that structured hierarchies are utilized to carrycontextual information (contextual data packets) between several VoIPentities in this illustrative embodiment. SP 610 processes theinitiation signal and/or the client's contextual information to identifywhat information will be further collected and which appropriate sourcewill be contacted, or queried, to obtain the identified information.However, the initial contextual information obtained from the VoIPClient 606 may be sufficient enough for SP 610 to provide services, forexample routing a call initiation signal to a routed destination.

If the appropriate source is a third party SP 612, SP 610 requests theidentified information and obtains the information from the third partySP 612. SP 610 and the third party SP 612 may exchange more information,including the client contextual information relating to the VoIP Client606 and/or the device. In an illustrative embodiment, upon receipt ofthe call-initiation signal, SP 610 obtains (or collects) any readilyavailable information, for example previously obtained contextualinformation related to VoIP Client 606 and/or the device, previouscommunications, service history and the like, from its database.

Referring to FIG. 7B, SP 610 obtains the identified information as partof client contextual information from VoIP Client 606 if the appropriatesource is VoIP Client 606. In one embodiment, SP 610 may send a requestfor obtaining such information. Upon receipt of the request, VoIP Client606 collects the requested information and identifies structuredhierarchies which will be used to carry contextual information includingthe requested information. The identified information may be collectedfrom other devices coupled to VoIP Client 606, other service providers,third party service providers, or the like. The collected contextualinformation is transmitted from VoIP Client 606 to SP 610 utilizing theidentified structured hierarchies. Alternatively, SP 610 may collect theidentified information from VoIP Client 606 via a secured connection.

In one embodiment, SP 610 may forward all or subsets of the receivedinformation to any VoIP entities, including another service provider ora third party SP 612. SP 610 may process the contextual informationrelating to VoIP Client 606. SP 610 may further store desired parts ofsuch information which may be used in future services for VoIP Client610, or the like. As discussed above, SP 610 may further identify andobtain (or collect) additional information relating to the communicationchannel and update the current contextual information (e.g., previouslyobtained contextual information) accordingly. In an illustrativeembodiment, information may be collected utilizing a Server-Pull method(client provides information upon server's request), a Server-Pushmethod (server pushes information without client's request), or thelike. For example, SP 610 may transmit provider contextual information(e.g., contextual information relating to SP 610 including informationcorresponding to a set of applications) to VoIP Client 606 withouthaving any request for such information from VoIP Client 606. Theprovider contextual information may correspond to embedded instructionsfor invoking a set of applications for collecting contextual informationfrom a device, an individual user operating the device, VoIP Client 606,etc. In this manner, more contextual information can be collected. Inone embodiment, VoIP Client 606 may determine whether a set ofapplications relating to SP 610 is locally available. If the set ofapplications is not available, VoIP Client 606 may request the set ofapplications which will be used for collecting and transmitting relevantcontextual information from SP 610. The set of applications can beobtained from SP 610, other VoIP clients, a third party SP 612, acentral database server, or the like.

Based on the newly obtained information, SP 610 may determine whethermore information needs to be obtained. SP 610 may identify another setof applications for collecting more information. For example, SP 610 mayidentify an additional set of applications relating to user interfaceswhich is adaptive to the user interactions and/or other contextualinformation obtained from third party SP 612, and the like. SP 610 maytransmit another set of applications (in the form of provider contextualinformation) or instructions to invoke such applications on the device.Alternatively, SP 610 may transmit source information where another setof applications can be obtained. Subsequently, the additional userinterfaces may be provided to VoIP Client 606. SP 610 generatesintegrated contextual information by combing obtained contextualinformation, additional information, etc., before transmitting thecontextual information. As mentioned above, SP 610 may identify part ofthe current contextual information to be removed before transmitting thecontextual information and then update the received contextualinformation accordingly. SP 610 determines a routed destination based onthe contextual information, the additional information, the detailedinformation, and the like. Upon determining the routed destination, SP610 may generate tailored contextual information based on a need of thedetermined destination. In an illustrative embodiment, Destination 614may be determined as a routed destination. In this embodiment, SP 610may route the call-initiation signal and the tailored contextualinformation to Destination 614. Alternatively, SP 610 transmits thecollected contextual information to another service provider which willeventually determine an appropriate destination party who can providethe desired service or a receiving party for the call initiationrequest. Another service provider of VoIP client 610 may forward thereceived contextual information to an appropriate destination party (arouted destination), which may collect more contextual information, ifnecessary, and update the received contextual information by adding,deleting, and/or modifying information.

In one embodiment, the structured hierarchies may be defined byExtensible Markup Language (XML). However, it is to be appreciated thatthe structured hierarchies can be defined by any language suitable forimplementing and maintaining extensible structured hierarchies.Generally described, XML is well known as a cross-platform, software andhardware independent tool for transmitting information. Further, XMLmaintains its data as a hierarchically structured tree of nodes, eachnode comprising a tag that may contain descriptive attributes. XML isalso well known for its ability to allow extendable (i.e. vendorcustomizable) patterns that may be dictated by the underlying data beingdescribed without losing interoperability. Typically, an XML namespaceURI is provided to uniquely identify a namespace. In some instances, thenamespace may be used as a pointer to a centralized location containingdefault information (e.g. XML Schema) about the document type the XML isdescribing.

In accordance with an illustrative embodiment, while the communicationchannel is being established, VoIP Client 606 may identify an XMLnamespace for contextual information. When multiple contexts areaggregated, appropriate XML namespaces can be declared as an attributeat the corresponding tags. It is to be understood that XML namespaces,attributes, and classes illustrated herein are provided merely as anexample of structured hierarchies used in conjunction with variousembodiments of the present invention. After Destination 614 and SP 610receive the XML namespace information, the VoIP Client 606 transmits aset of contextual data packets, defined in accordance with theidentified XML namespace, to Destination 614. When a namespace ispresent at a tag, its child elements share the same namespace inpursuant to the XML scope rule defined by XML 1.0 specification. Assuch, Destination 614 and VoIP Client 606 can transmit contextualinformation without including prefixes in all the child elements,thereby reducing the amount of data packets transmitted for thecontextual information.

FIGS. 8A-8C are block diagrams illustrating user interfaces 800 inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Fordiscussion purposes, assume that a client sends a signal to initiate acall to a call center, for reporting problems in a device, utilizing aVoIP device (e.g., computer, etc.) suitable for exchanging VoIPconversations. With reference to FIG. 8A, a block diagram illustratesuser interfaces 800 initially displayed on a screen of the VoIP devicewhen a client initiates a call connection by sending an initiationsignal. In a particular embodiment, an individual user or a client mayhave launched an Internet Phone User Interface 802 in order to send asignal to initiate a call. It is contemplated that appropriate softwareand application components relating to VoIP conversations are readilyresident on the VoIP device.

In an illustrative embodiment, the Internet Phone User Interface 802 mayinclude various buttons and sub-screens to assist a user in making aVoIP call connection. For example, the Internet Phone User Interface 802may include a keypad 804 similar to a keypad of a conventional telephonydevice. The Internet Phone User Interface 802 may include severalselection menus 806, 808, 810 allowing the user to select last callnumber, a number from an address book (e.g., CALL CENTER 1), desireduser preferences, and the like. MENU 812 and UPDATE 814 buttons may beutilized to change and/or view the selection menus 806, 808, 810.

In one embodiment, other functional buttons 816, 818, 820, 824 mayprovide shortcuts for frequently used VoIP call features. For example,when CXT INFO 824 button is selected, a set of contextual information(prepackaged contextual information, information collected by the VoIPdevice, etc.) may be transmitted without receiving any requests for suchcontextual information. Additionally, in an illustrative embodiment, amain user interface 804 relating to the service provider may beprovided, which may be a known Web page of the service provider, apreviously obtained user interface (relating to past services),applications pushed by the service provider upon receipt of the request,or the like. In this embodiment, during a connection set-up phase, theservice provider may receive a request for a service (e.g., a callconnection request to the 800 number of a particular call center) from aclient and subsequently receive the client's contextual information.Based on the request and the client contextual information, the serviceprovider may determine whether additional information needs to beobtained from the client. In one embodiment, when the client does notwish to send any contextual information or does not have capabilities tocollect or transmit contextual information, any client contextualinformation (which is associated with the communication channel) may notbe received. In this embodiment, the service provider may have apredefined default destination for the calls for which the serviceprovider cannot determine an appropriate destination. Alternatively, theservice provider may collect and/or obtain the contextual informationrelating to the client from proper sources, such as its local storage,other service providers, other clients, third party service providers,etc.

Referring to FIG. 8B, during the connection set-up phase, moreinformation can be collected via user interactions on several userinterfaces 830, 840. As mentioned above, the service provider'scontextual information relating to the set of applications may beprovided to the client. Alternatively, a device of the client may havepreviously obtained applications relating to the user interfacessuitable for providing desired user interactions. In this manner, theappropriate user information (e.g., client contextual information)collected before the call-initiation signal and the relevant userinformation is routed to an appropriate destination (e.g., an operator,an agent, a primary contact, an interactive voice response system(IVRS), a call distributing system, a third-party service provider, andthe like). For example, an agent at a call center can receiveappropriate information relating to the requested services such asclient information, previous history of services, possible solutions,next level of support, and the like. It is contemplated that theexchange of contextual information can be done at any time during aconversation. In one embodiment, in order to improve network bandwidth,a prolonged period of silence (no exchange of voice data packets for athreshold time) may be detected and utilized for exchange of contextualinformation.

Referring to FIG. 8C, after the communication channel connection isestablished with the routed destination, the routed destination, theservice provider, and the like can collect more information from theclient. While the client communicates with the routed destination, mediainformation and contextual information may be exchanged via various userinterfaces. In one embodiment, several sub-screens may be populated,including a sub-screen 850 for an on-line survey, a sub-screen 830 forcollecting more contextual information, a sub-screen 840 for thecommunication channel, and the like. For example, the sub-screen 840 forthe communication channel may display who is communicating and provideselection buttons 842, 844, 846 for the individual user to choose fromin order to control the communication channel connection. For example,the user can select HOLD 842 button to hold, interrupt, or mute theconversation. NEXT REP 844 button may allow the user to alter thecommunication channel connection by selecting the next availabledestination. The user can select TERMINATE 846 button which terminatesthe communication channel connection.

With reference to FIGS. 9A-9F, block diagrams illustrative of variousclasses and attributes of structured hierarchies corresponding to VoIPcontextual information are shown. The VoIP contextual informationexchanged between various VoIP entities (e.g., clients, serviceproviders, etc.) may correspond to a VoIP namespace 900. In oneembodiment, the VoIP namespace 900 is represented as a hierarchicallystructured tree of nodes, each node corresponding to a subclass whichcorresponds to a subset of VoIP contextual information. For example, aVoIP Namespace 900 may be defined as a hierarchically structured treecomprising a Call Basics Class 902, a Call Contexts Class 910, a DeviceType Class 920, a VoIP Client Class 930, and the like.

With reference to FIG. 9B, a block diagram of a Call Basics Class 902 isshown. In an illustrative embodiment, Call Basics Class 902 maycorrespond to a subset of VoIP contextual information relating to aconversation channel connection (e.g., a PSTN call connection, a VoIPcall connection, and the like). The subset of the VoIP contextualinformation relating to a conversation channel connection may includeoriginating numbers (e.g., a caller's client ID number), destinationnumbers (e.g., callees' client ID numbers or telephone numbers), callconnection time, VoIP service provider related information, and/or ISPrelated information such as IP address, MAC address, namespaceinformation, and the like. Additionally, the contextual informationrelating to a conversation channel connection may include call priorityinformation (which defines the priority levels of the destinationnumbers), call type information, and the like. The call type informationmay indicate whether the conversation channel is established for anemergency communication, a broadcasting communication, a computer tocomputer communication, a computer to POTS device communication, and soforth. In one embodiment, the contextual information relating to aconversation channel connection may include predefined identifiers whichrepresent emotions, sounds (e.g., “ah,” “oops,” “wow,” etc.) and facialexpressions in graphical symbols. In one embodiment, a Call Basics Class902 may be defined as a sub-tree structure of a VoIP Namespace 900,which includes nodes such as call priority 903, namespace information904, call type 905, destination numbers 906, service provider 907,predefined identifiers 908, and the like.

With reference to FIGS. 9C and 9D, block diagrams of a Call ContextsClass 910 and one subclass of the Call Contexts Class 910 are shown. Inone embodiment, a subset of VoIP contextual information relating toconversation context may correspond to the Call Contexts Class 910. Thecontextual information relating to conversation context may includeinformation such as keywords supplied from a client, a service provider,or a network, identified keywords from document file data, identifiedkeywords from a conversation data packet (e.g., conversation keywords),file names for documents and/or multimedia files exchanged as part ofthe conversation, game related information (such as a game type, virtualproximity in a certain game), frequency of use (including frequency andduration of calls relating to a certain file, a certain subject, and acertain client), and file identification (such as a case number, amatter number, and the like relating to a conversation). Additionally,the contextual information relating to conversation context may includeinformation relating to encryption (e.g., whether and/or how to encryptcontextual information, the type of encryption such asasymmetric/symmetric or bit strength, etc.) and subject of service (atype or nature of the service when a client requests such service from aservice provider), among many others. In accordance with an illustrativeembodiment, a Call Contexts Class 910 may be defined as a sub-treestructure of a VoIP Namespace 900, which includes nodes corresponding tofile identification 912, supplied keyword 913, conversation keyword 814,frequency of use 915, encryption information 916, service 920, and thelike.

Referring to FIG. 9D, a block diagram of a Services 920 subclass isshown. In one embodiment, the Services 920 subclass may correspond to asubset of information relating to a requested service. The contextualinformation relating to a requested service may include a client accountnumber associated with the requested service. The client account numbermay be used as a key to search the database associated with the serviceprovider. The database may be maintained by a third party server. In oneembodiment, in a call center environment, a primary contact may beassigned to each client. For example, general clients may have a helpdesk operator as a default primary contact while an important client(e.g., vendors, high volume clients, etc.) may have a dedicated primarycontact. Alternatively, an IVRS may be assigned as a default primarycontact. Likewise, the last primary contact that has previously providedgood service may be recorded as a primary contact.

The contextual information relating to a requested service may furtherinclude information relating to a device which requires the service(this may be the same as, or different from, a device currently used bythe client in a communication channel). Third party SPs may beassociated with a manufacturer of the device, or manufacturer ofcomponents of the device. Such third party SPs may have additionalinformation crucial to providing the requested services. Further, thecontextual information relating to a requested service may include alevel of urgency which may be utilized, in conjunction with otherinformation, to determine a priority of the requested service. Theclient may specify preferences or rules related to the requestedservices. For example, the client may specify a language preference, atime threshold that the client is willing to wait for the service, andthe like. In accordance with an illustrative embodiment, a ServicesSubclass 920 may be defined as a sub-tree structure of a Call ContextsClass 910, which includes nodes corresponding to account number 922,primary contact 923, related devices 924, third party 925, urgency 926,preference 928, and the like.

With reference to FIG. 9E, a block diagram of a Device Type Class 930 isdepicted. In one embodiment, a Device Type Class 930 may correspond to asubset of VoIP contextual information relating to a VoIP client deviceused for the conversation channel connection. The subset of the VoIPcontextual information relating to the VoIP client device may includeaudio related information which may be needed to process audio datagenerated by the VoIP client device. The audio related information mayinclude information related to the device's audio functionality andcapability, such as sampling rate, machine type, output/input type,microphone, Digital Signal Processing (DSP) card information, and thelike. The subset of the VoIP contextual information relating to the VoIPclient device may include video related information which may be neededto process video data generated by the VoIP client device. The videorelated information may include resolution, refresh, type and size ofthe video data, graphic card information, and the like. The contextualinformation relating to VoIP client devices may further include otherdevice specific information such as type of the computer system,processor information, network bandwidth, wireless/wired connection,portability of the computer system, processing settings of the computersystem, and the like. In an illustrative embodiment, a Device Type Class930 may be defined as a sub-tree structure of a VoIP Namespace 800,which includes nodes corresponding to Audio 932, Video 934, Text 935,Device Specific 936, and the like.

FIG. 9F depicts a block diagram of a VoIP Client Class 940. Inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment, a VoIP Client Class 940 maycorrespond to a subset of contextual information relating to VoIPclients. In one embodiment, the subset of the VoIP contextualinformation relating to the VoIP client may include voice profileinformation (e.g., a collection of information specifying the tonal andphonetic characteristics of an individual user), digital signatureinformation, and biometric information. The biometric information caninclude user identification information (e.g., fingerprint) related tobiometric authentication, user stress level, user mood, etc. The subsetof the VoIP contextual information relating to the VoIP client mayinclude assigned phone number, user contact information (such as name,address, company, and the like), rules defined by the client, userpreferences, digital rights management (DRM), a member rank of anindividual user in an organization, priority associated with the memberrank, and the like. The priority associated with the member rank may beused to assign priority to the client for a conference call. As will bedescribed in greater detail below, the subset of the VoIP contextualinformation relating to the VoIP client may include locationinformation. In one embodiment, a VoIP Client Class 940 may be definedas a sub-tree structure of a VoIP Namespace 900, which includes nodescorresponding to user biometrics 941, user preference 942, rules 943,user identification 944, member priority 945, location 946, and thelike.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating a routine 1000 for collectingand/or obtaining initial contextual information relating to acommunication channel in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. For the purpose of discussion, assume that a device of acalling VoIP client (calling client) may be associated with severalservice providers for receiving services. In addition, appropriatesoftware and application components relating to VoIP conversations arereadily resident on the device. The calling client may be capable ofidentifying the destination service provider based on previouslyobtained information, for example a service contract, a warrantee, orthe like. Further, the destination service provider may be determinedbased on a desired service, a detected problem, etc. The calling clienttransmits a service request to the destination service provider bytransmitting a signal to initiate a call with one of the contacts (e.g.,an operator, an agent, an IVRS, etc.) representing the destinationservice provider.

Although the illustrative embodiment is described in connection with theroutine 1000 and focused on collecting contextual information by thedevice of the calling client during a connection set-up phase, it iscontemplated that contextual information can be collected and/orobtained by a service provider, or a third party service provider, atany time (including before, during, or after terminating a communicationchannel). It is also contemplated that any suitable VoIP entities can bea source where the calling client can obtain contextual information.

Beginning at block 1002, the calling client may identify a destinationservice provider (e.g., a call center, a service provider, etc.) forrequesting services based on previously obtained information stored inlocal storage. Alternatively, the destination service provider relatedinformation may be obtained from a management server with a centraldatabase which maintains device related information such as a deviceserial number, a firmware version, purchase information, a call centerphone number, a web address of the call center, or the like. Based onvarious types of information, the destination service provider forrequesting services may be determined.

In one embodiment, a device may be capable of initiating an automaticcall to a designated destination service provider if the device isexperiencing a certain problem corresponding to the designateddestination. In this example, the destination service provider ispredefined based on a potential problem on the device. At decision block1004, a determination is made as to whether a set of applicationsrelating to the identified destination is locally available. One exampleof the set of applications may be structured hierarchies. As describedabove, based on the content of the contextual information, at least onestructured hierarchy may be identified from predefined structuredhierarchies, such as an XML namespace, and the like.

In one embodiment, minimum predefined structured hierarchies can beagreed among VoIP entities. Subsequently, any additional structuredhierarchies needed for the communication of contextual information willbe exchanged among VoIP entities before the corresponding contextualinformation is transmitted. If it is determined at decision block 1004that the set of applications is locally available, at block 1006, anappropriate application may be selected and a set of contextualinformation may be collected in accordance with the selectedapplications. If it is determined at decision block 1004 that the set ofapplications is not available, at block 1008, basic contextualinformation may be collected. In one embodiment, the calling client maysend a query for the appropriate applications to a proper sourceincluding the call center, a third party service provider or the like.In another embodiment the calling client may receive applications via adedicated device while no media information is exchanged. For example,the applications may be updated periodically. In another embodiment, thecalling client may have old versions of applications. In this example,the calling client may send the version number of the applications tothe destination service provider to confirm the compatibility of the twodifferent versions of applications. In response to this, the destinationservice provider may send additional information to upgrade theapplications resident in the device of the client. Further, thedestination service provider may send a confirmation of thecompatibility or identify a source to get the updated application, orthe like. At block 1010, a signal path between the calling client andthe identified destination service provider is established. In oneembodiment, the calling client may send a call-initiation signal to theidentified destination service provider. Upon receipt of thecall-initiation signal, the call center may send a response to thecall-initiation signal. The response may be an acceptance of thecall-initiation signal, a rejection of the call-initiation signal, etc.Over the signal path, the calling client and the identified destinationservice provider may exchange contextual information. For example, thecall initiation signal may be related to a service request and itscorresponding information is readily available on the destinationservice provider before the conversation begins between the callingclient and the call center. The identified destination service providermay send the information corresponding to the service request, a requestfor additional information, a request for other relevant contextualinformation, or the like. The calling client may collect and providerequested contextual information. At block 1012, contextual informationmay be exchanged via a contextual information subroutine which will bediscussed in greater detail below in FIG. 11. At decision block 1014, adetermination is made as to whether a communication channel needs to beestablished between the calling client and the destination serviceprovider. For example, if the query of the calling client (a servicerequest, an inquiry for information, and the like) has been satisfied byexchanging contextual information, the communication channel does notneed to be established. In one embodiment, a contact point (e.g., user,automated system, etc.) of the device may be asked whether the contactpoint has received adequate information or services which the callinitiation intended to receive. For example, a user interface may bepopulated to get the calling client's answer as to whether the query issatisfied, the furtherance of a communication channel establishment isdesired, or additional services are desired, and the like.

If it is determined at decision block 1014 that the communicationchannel needs to be established since all the queries (desired services,inquiries for information, etc.) of the calling client have not beensatisfied, at block 1016 the communication channel will be established.If it is determined at decision block 1014 the communication channeldoes not need to be established since all the queries have beensatisfied at block 1018, the signal path will be terminated. The routine1000 completes at block 1020 after establishing a communication channel(block 1016) or terminating the signal path (block 1018).

It is to be understood that the embodiments explained in conjunctionwith the routine 1000 are provided merely for example purposes. In oneembodiment, a VoIP device may send an automatic service request upondetection of problems without any human interaction. It is contemplatedthat the routine 1000 can also be performed by a service provider or athird party service provider. For example, a service provider cancollect contextual information relating to a communication channel andrequest additional information from the calling client, devices of thecalling client, or a third party service provider. It is furthercontemplated that a service provider can forward the call-initiationsignal and contextual information to a third party service providerwhich is suitable to route the incoming signal (call-initiation signal)to the destination service provider.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of a subroutine 1100 for collecting andtransmitting contextual information over a signal path in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention. As with FIG. 10, thecalling client may have a signal path established with a destinationservice provider and have collected basic contextual information. Atblock 1102, the collected contextual information may be transmitted tothe destination service provider over a signal path. Upon receipt of thecontextual information, the call center may send a response based on thecontextual information. At block 1104, the response to the contextualinformation may be received. The response may be a request foradditional information, a request for other relevant contextualinformation, or the like. Further, the response may be informationrelated to providing the requested service. For example, a callinitiation signal may be related to a service request and itscorresponding information is readily available on the destinationservice provider before the conversation begins between the callingclient and the destination service provider (e.g., a call center). Uponreceipt of the contextual information, the destination service providermay collect detailed information, which can be a potential answer for aquery associated with the call and then transmit the collectedinformation. At decision block 1106, a determination is made as towhether additional information needs to be collected based on theresponse. If the additional contextual information needs to becollected, at block 1108, the additional contextual information may becollected.

In one embodiment, the calling client may identify additional contextualinformation which needs to be collected for the communication channel.An appropriate source for collecting additional contextual informationmay be determined. It is contemplated that any VoIP entities such asother clients, a third party service provider other service providers,and the like can be an appropriate source for the contextualinformation. If necessary, the calling client may contact theappropriate source and collect the additional contextual information. Inone embodiment, the calling client may send an inquiry for obtaining theadditional contextual information to the appropriate source (e.g., thirdparty service provider). It is further contemplated that the callingclient may utilize other suitable devices to collect the information ifthe device currently in use does not have the functionality to contactor collect such information. The information collected by other devicesmay be forwarded to the device which is currently in use.

At decision block 1110, a determination is made as to whether the signalpath needs to be re-established. In one embodiment, a signal path mayexpire after a predetermined time period. If it is determined atdecision block 1110 that the signal path needs to be established due toexpiration, at block 1112, the signal path will be re-establishedbetween the calling client and the service provider. Afterre-establishing the signal path (block 1112) or if it is determined thatthe signal path does not need to be established (decision block 1110),the routine will repeat the above mentioned steps until no morecontextual information need to be collected or transmitted. If it isdetermined at decision block 1106 that no more contextual informationneeds to be collected or transmitted, the subroutine terminates at block1114.

FIG. 12 illustrates a flow diagram of a routine 1200 for collectingcontextual information during a conversation in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. As described in FIG. 10, theinitial contextual information may have been collected and transmittedto the destination service provider (call center) during the connectionset-up time. For purpose of discussion, assume that a communicationchannel has been established between the calling client and the callcenter (e.g., a contact of the call center, an IVR, etc.).

Beginning at block 1202, after a communication channel is established,the call center and the calling client may continue exchangingcontextual information and/or media information (including voiceinformation) over the communication channel. At decision block 1204, adetermination is made as to whether there are any changes in thecontextual information. If it is determined at decision block 1204 thatthere is a change in the previously transmitted contextual information,at block 1206, additional information relating to the change may becollected and/or obtained from a proper source. For example, if theadditional information is locally available, the additional informationis retrieved. Otherwise, the additional information may be obtained fromvarious sources (e.g., other devices of the calling client, serviceproviders, a third party service provider, etc.).

At block 1208, the collected (obtained) contextual information may betransmitted to the call center. At block 1210, a response correspondingto the transmitted contextual information may be received from the callcenter. In one embodiment, during the conversation, the call center mayidentify another service necessary or useful to the calling client. Inorder to provide the identified service, the call center may furthercollect contextual information from various sources. This may be usefulwhen the calling client does not know about the exact nature ofavailable services, automatic service calls transmitted from a suitableVoIP device, and the like.

Upon receipt of the response, the calling client may not need tocontinue further conversation, if the initial inquiry for services hasbeen satisfied. In one embodiment, even after the calling client'sinitial inquiry for services has been satisfied by the response from thecall center, the calling client may desire to have further conversationwith a contact, an agent, or a sale representative at the call center.Moreover, the calling client may desire to send more inquiries to thecall center, and the like. A determination is made as to whether anyquery for additional information has been received. If any query foradditional information has been received, the additional informationcorresponding to the query may be collected from a proper source. It isto be understood that a query for information can be a part of theresponse received, or part of subsequently received provider contextualinformation which request the additional information. Further, thecalling client may determine a need for additional information based onthe conversation and appropriate information may be identified andcollected.

If it is determined at decision block 1204 that there is no change incontextual information, at decision block 1212, a determination is madeas to whether any query for requesting additional information has beenreceived. If it is determined at decision block 1212 that a query foradditional information has been received, at block 1214, the additionalinformation may be collected. In an illustrative embodiment, when thereare multiple sources available for the additional information, theadditional information may be collected and/or obtained from each of themultiple sources. Alternatively, the most appropriate source may bedetermined and contacted. The calling client may have predefined rulesor logic to determine an appropriate source for particular information.For example, a GPS server may be one of the appropriate sources forgeographic location information of a device equipped with GPS modules.If an individual user's mobile phone can provide the geographic locationinformation of a mobile device, the device may be one of the appropriatesources. Similarly, if a VoIP client maintains geographic locationinformation of devices in local storage, the VoIP client may be one ofthe appropriate sources. The routine 1200 repeats the above-mentionedsteps which include collecting (block 1214), transmitting contextualinformation (block 1208), and receiving a response (block 1210) untilthere is no query for additional information.

If it is determined at decision block 1212 that no query for additionalinformation has been received, at decision block 1216, anotherdetermination is made as to whether the ongoing contextual informationroutine 1200 should be ended. For example, it may be determined as towhether the call is completed at decision block 1216. If it isdetermined that the ongoing contextual information routine 1200 shouldbe continued, at decision block 1212, the routine 1200 continues todecision block 1204 where a determination is made as to whether anychanges have occurred in contextual information. The routine 1200repeats the steps of collecting (block 1206), transmitting contextualinformation (block 1208), receiving a response (block 1210) and/orcollecting additional contextual information (block 1214) until the callis completed. If it is determined at decision block 1212 that theongoing contextual information routine 1200 should be ended, the routine1200 terminates at block 1220.

It is to be understood that the embodiments explained in conjunctionwith the routine 1200 are provided merely for example purposes. In oneembodiment, the method of collecting contextual information may also beevolving based on the obtained contextual information. For example, auser's good mood may become bad when an IVRS starts communicating toobtain the additional contextual information. The user's mood can bedetected by recognizing cursing words, body heat, tone of voice, stress,and the like. Upon receipt of contextual information relating to themood change, the service provider may ask whether the user prefers ahuman operator or a form (GUI) rather than an IVRS. The call center maycollect contextual information in accordance with the user selection.Alternatively, the call center may provide a promotion (e.g., coupons,rewards, etc.) to boost the user's mood, or an explanation of thecurrent situation such as a long downtime in waiting for a humanoperator and the like. It is contemplated that information can beobtained from various sources. For example, if it is determined that theadditional contextual information can be available from the callingclient, the call center may identify its contextual information whichwill be used to collect the additional information at the callingclient's device. In this example, a set of applications for providing orinvoking user interfaces may be identified based on the requestedservice. The call center's contextual information relating to the set ofapplications is transmitted to the calling client. As mentioned above,when the calling client already has a set of applications suitable forcollecting the additional information, embedded instructions to invokeuser interfaces may be transmitted to the calling client. Similarly,when the calling client does not have appropriate applications suitablefor collecting the additional information, a set of applications forproviding user interfaces may be transmitted to the calling client. Theservice provider collects the additional information from the callingclient.

In an alternative embodiment, the calling client may not allow the callcenter (or the routed destination) to pull information from any devicesof the calling client. In this embodiment, the call center may requestthe calling client to collect the additional information by identifyingthe set of applications on the calling client device. The calling clientdevice, in return, collects and transmits the additional informationdetected while implementing the set of applications. In one embodiment,the additional information needs to be obtained from the third partySPs, the most appropriate third party SP for obtaining the additionalinformation will be determined. In this embodiment, the call center mayhave predefined provider rules or logic to determine an appropriatesource for particular information. Further, the calling client may haveprovided calling client rules or preferences with respect to determiningan appropriate source for particular information. The additionalinformation is obtained from the most appropriate third party SP. In analternative embodiment, the service provider may obtain the additionalinformation from various third party SPs and generate comprehensiveinformation based on the obtained information.

It is contemplated that upon receipt of a service request, othercontextual information, relating to providing such service, may becollected by various VoIP entities including a service provider, adevice, a third party service provider, etc., and exchanged. It is alsocontemplated that any suitable VoIP entities other than the serviceprovider can be responsive to the service request and can provide therequested service. In one embodiment, the requested service may beprovided in such a way that the client would not know the service isprovided from VoIP entities other than the service provider.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating a routine 1300 for collectingcontextual information and/or obtaining contextual information inresponse to an incoming request for a service, or in the course ofproviding the requested service with an embodiment of the presentinvention. As with FIG. 10, assume that a device of a calling client (acalling VoIP client) may be associated with a call center which iscapable of providing customer services. Further assume that appropriatesoftware and application components relating to VoIP conversations arereadily resident on the device. The calling client transmits a servicerequest to the service provider by transmitting a request to initiate aVoIP call communication with one of the contacts (e.g., an operator, anagent, an IVRS, etc.) representing the call center.

Beginning at block 1302, the call center receives an incoming requestfrom the calling client. The incoming request may be a signal toinitiate a communication channel with the one of contacts. At decisionblock 1304, a determination is made as to whether the calling client'scontextual information relating to the communication channel has beenreceived subsequent to the incoming request. In one embodiment, thedevice of the calling client may not have a functionality to collect ortransmit contextual information, or the calling client may have a set ofrules which prohibits any contextual information from being transmitted.In such a case, no contextual information associated with thecommunication channel may be received subsequent to the incomingrequest.

The call center may be authorized to collect the calling client'scontextual information associated with the communication channel. If itis determined at decision block 1304 that no contextual information hasbeen received, at decision block 1310, a determination is made as towhether contextual information of the calling client has been furthercollected. For example, if the device of the calling client does nothave a functionality to collect or transmit contextual information, thecontextual information of the calling client cannot be collecteddirectly from the calling client. However, the call center can retrievepreviously obtained (collected) contextual information of the callingclient, or collect necessary information of the calling client fromother sources which maintain the calling client's contextualinformation. If it is determined at decision block 1310 that thecontextual information has been collected, or if it is determined atdecision block 1304 that the contextual information has been received,the call center may process the contextual information of the callingclient as illustrated at block 1306. Based on the processed contextualinformation and the incoming request, at block 1308, an appropriateresponse may be generated and transmitted to the calling client. Asmentioned above, the appropriate response may include, but is notlimited to, rejecting the incoming request, accepting the incomingrequest, requesting more information, providing applications forcollecting more information, etc.

At decision block 1314, a determination is made as to whether morecontextual information relating to the calling client and/or informationrelating to the incoming request needs to be collected. If it isdetermined at block 1314 that additional contextual information needs tobe collected, at block 1316, the call center may collect the additionalcontextual information. In one embodiment, an application relating tothe additional contextual information may be provided to the callingclient if the calling client does not have such an application. Routine1300 repeats the above steps until no additional contextual informationneeds to be collected.

If it is determined at block 1314 that no additional contextualinformation needs to be collected, at decision block 1318, adetermination is made as to whether the communication channel has beenrejected by the calling client. If it has not been rejected, the callcenter may select an appropriate routed destination based on thecontextual information and route the incoming request to the appropriaterouted destination at block 1320. As will be discussed in greater detailbelow, the call center may further obtain other relevant informationsuch as previous call history, possible solutions, etc. The call centermay determine an appropriate routed destination based on the obtainedcontextual information relating to the calling client and otherinformation. If it is determined at block 1310 that no contextualinformation has been received or obtained, at block 1312, the callcenter may route the incoming request to a default routed destination,such as an operator, a contact, an agent, an IVRS, etc. After routingthe incoming request to the determined routed destination (block 1312,block 1318), a communication channel may be established between thecalling client and the determined routed destination as illustrated atblock 1322. As mentioned above, after a communication channel isestablished, the routed destination, the call center and the callingclient may continue exchanging contextual information over thecommunication channel. The routine 1300 terminates at block 1324.

It is to be understood that the embodiments explained in conjunctionwith the routine 1300 are provided merely for example purposes. In oneembodiment, the call center continues to collect contextual informationwhile the calling client and the routed destination are exchanging mediainformation (including voice information). In an illustrativeembodiment, the method of collecting contextual information may also beevolving based on the obtained contextual information. For example, anindividual user's good mood may become bad when an IVRS startscommunicating to obtain the additional contextual information. Theindividual user's mood can be detected by recognizing cursing words,body heat, tone of voice, stress, and the like. Upon receipt ofcontextual information relating to the mood change, the call center mayask whether the individual user prefers a human operator or a form (GUI)rather than an IVRS. The call center may collect contextual informationin accordance with the individual user's selection. Alternatively, thecall center may provide a promotion (e.g., coupons, rewards, etc.) toboost the user's mood, or an explanation of the current situation, suchas a long downtime in waiting for a human operator, and the like.

In another embodiment, the call center may identify part of the callingclient's contextual information which will be used to collect theadditional information at the calling client's device. In this example,a set of applications for providing or invoking user interfaces may beidentified based on the requested service. The call center's contextualinformation relating to the set of applications is transmitted to thecalling client. As mentioned above, when the calling client already hasa set of applications suitable for collecting the additionalinformation, embedded instructions to invoke user interfaces may betransmitted to the calling client. Similarly, when the calling clientdoes not have appropriate applications suitable for collecting theadditional information, a set of applications for providing userinterfaces may be transmitted to the calling client. The serviceprovider collects the additional information from the calling client.

In one embodiment, the calling client may not authorize the call center(or the routed destination) to pull information from any devices of thecalling client. In this embodiment, the call center may ask the callingclient to provide the additional information by identifying the set ofapplications on the calling client device. The calling client device, inreturn, collects and transmits the additional information detected whileimplementing the set of applications. In one embodiment, the additionalinformation needs to be obtained from third party SPs, the mostappropriate third party SP for obtaining the additional information willbe determined. In this embodiment, the call center may have predefinedprovider rules or logic to determine an appropriate source forparticular information. Further, the calling client may have providedcalling client rules or preferences with respect to determining anappropriate source for particular information. The additionalinformation is obtained from the most appropriate third party SP. In analternative embodiment, the service provider may obtain the additionalinformation from various third party SPs and generate comprehensiveinformation based on the obtained information.

It is understood that upon receipt of a service request, othercontextual information relating to providing such service can becollected by various VoIP entities including a service provider, adevice, a third party service provider, etc., and exchanged. It is alsocontemplated that any suitable VoIP entities other than the serviceprovider can be responsive to the service request and can provide therequested service. In one embodiment, the requested service may beprovided in such a way that the client would not know the service isprovided from VoIP entities other than the service provider.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a routine 1400 for routing a call toan appropriate destination in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention.

Beginning at block 1402, relevant contextual information may beidentified from the obtained and/or collected contextual informationwhich relates to the calling client, the communication channel, etc. Atblock 1404, the call center information including detail informationwhich relates to previous conversations, history, previouslycommunicated contacts, etc., may be obtained. In one embodiment, thecall center may include a database which maintains details of previousconversations, previously identified problems/issues, solutionscorresponding to the problems/issues, a service log which keeps recordsof services provided to each client, third party service providers, etc.

Some additional information relevant to determining an appropriaterouted destination may need to be collected from other sources. Forexample, a virtual location, or geographic location of the device may beobtained from a (third party) location server. At block 1406, anappropriate routed destination may be determined based on the sets ofinformation including the obtained contextual information of the callingclient, the call center information, other relevant information, etc. Atblock 1408, the sets of information may be tailored to the needs of therouted destination. As such, the tailored information may include all orpart of the contextual information of the calling client, the callcenter information, other relevant information, etc. At block 1410, thecommunication channel between the calling client and the call center isestablished. The routine 1400 terminates at block 1412.

While illustrative embodiments have been illustrated and described, itwill be appreciated that various changes can be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for collecting and transmittingcontextual information to route a communication channel connection,comprising: a processor; a computer-readable medium; an operating systemstored on the computer-readable medium; a process operating undercontrol of the operating system and configured to perform operations,comprising: identifying a destination of the communication channel;determining a first set of contextual information to be collected thatis associated with a caller; collecting the first set of contextualinformation; wherein the first set of contextual information comprises arequested service, a type of device of the caller, available mediatypes, and preferences of the caller; after collecting the first set ofcontextual information, sending a signal to initiate the communicationchannel connection with the destination and transmitting the first setof contextual information to the destination over the communicationchannel using contextual data packets; wherein the communication channelis used to transmit and receive the contextual data packets andconversational data packets; wherein the conversation data packets arefor conversation data and the contextual data packets are for data otherthen the conversation data; receiving a response from the destination;and collecting additional contextual information that is associated withthe caller during a time of a conversation between the caller and thedestination and transmitting the additional contextual information overthe communication channel using the contextual data packets.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein determining a first set of contextualinformation includes identifying an appropriate application related tothe destination.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the responseindicates that additional information is required to establish thecommunication channel with the destination.
 4. The system of claim 3,further comprising: identifying a second set of contextual informationrelating to the additional information; determining if an appropriateapplication corresponding to the second set of contextual information isavailable; if the appropriate application is not available, obtainingthe appropriate application; and if the appropriate application isavailable, selecting the appropriate application.
 5. The system of claim4, further comprising: collecting and transmitting the second set ofcontextual information in accordance with the appropriate applicationcorresponding to the second set of contextual information; and receivinga response from the destination.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein theresponse indicates that the initiation signal is accepted to establishthe communication channel with the destination.
 7. The system of claim6, further comprising: if there is a change in the transmittedcontextual information, collecting information relating to the changeand transmitting the collected information over the establishedcommunication channel.
 8. The system of claim 7, further comprising:receiving contextual information relating to a destination's response tothe transmitted information.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein theresponse indicates that the communication channel initiation has beenrejected.
 10. A system for routing a communication channel signal to adestination and providing contextual information tailored for thedestination, comprising: a processor; a computer-readable medium; anoperating system stored on the computer-readable medium; a processoperating under control of the operating system and configured toperform operations, comprising: receiving an incoming request toinitiate a communication channel; upon determining whether contextualinformation associated with the communication channel has been received,processing the contextual information; transmitting a response inaccordance with the processed contextual information; upon determining adestination for the communication channel using the contextualinformation, routing the incoming request and at least a subset of thecontextual information to the destination; and after determining thedestination using the contextual information, establishing thecommunication channel through which the destination exchangesconversation data with a caller using conversational data packets andcontextual data using contextual data packets; wherein additionalcontextual information is collected during a time of a conversationbetween the caller and the destination and exchanged over thecommunication channel using the contextual data packets.
 11. The systemof claim 10, wherein determining a destination further comprises:identifying relevant contextual information; obtaining detailedinformation relating to previous communications and history; and basedon the relevant contextual information and the detailed information,selecting at least one destination as the destination for routing theincoming request.
 12. The system of claim 10, wherein routing acommunication channel to the destination further comprises: wherein theat least the subset of contextual information includes subsets of thereceived contextual information and tailored information based on theneed of the destination.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein thedestination is a default contact if there is no received contextualinformation that is associated with the communication channel.
 14. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the destination is a third party serviceprovider.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein the request is receivedfrom a device capable of generating an automatic request for thecommunication channel.
 16. The system of claim 10, wherein processingthe contextual information includes collecting additional contextualinformation.
 17. A system for routing a request signal for establishinga communication channel and relevant contextual information, comprising:an interface component for receiving the request signal for establishinga communication channel, for receiving contextual information relatingto a calling party before establishing the communication channel, andobtaining additional information; a routing component for determining adestination based on the contextual information and the obtainedadditional information, and forwarding the request and appropriatecontextual information to the destination; wherein the destination andthe calling party exchange voice information using conversational datapackets over the communication channel and contextual information usingcontextual data packets over the communication channel; and a storagecomponent for storing several sets of information which includesdetailed information relating to history, previous communications andthe destination, and information relating to the calling party includingthe contextual information and the obtained additional information. 18.The system of claim 17, wherein the additional information is obtainedfrom at least one of the calling party, a third party service provider,a service provider of the calling party, or the storage component. 19.The system of claim 17, wherein the interface component obtainsinformation relating to changes in previously received contextualinformation.
 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the routing componentselects another destination based on the obtained information, reroutesthe communication channel to the selected destination, and providesappropriate information to the selected destination.